Use of soil‐streamwater relationships to assess regional patterns of acidic deposition effects in the northeastern USA

Abstract

Abstract:Declines of acidic deposition levels by as much as 50% since 1990 have led to partial recovery of surface waters in the northeastern USA but continued depletion of soil calcium through this same period suggests a disconnection between soil and surface water chemistry. To investigate the role of soil-surface water interactions in recovery from acidification, the first regional survey to directly relate soil chemistry to stream chemistry during high flow was implemented in a 4144-km 2 area of the Catskill region of New York, where acidic deposition levels are among the highest in the East. More than 40% of 95 streams sampled in the southern Catskill Mountains were determined to be acidified and had inorganic monomeric aluminum concentrations that exceeded a threshold that is toxic to aquatic biota. More than 80% likely exceeded this threshold during the highest flows, but less than 10% of more than 100 streams sampled were acidified in the northwestern portion of the region. Median Oa horizon soil base saturation ranged from 50% to 80% at 200 sites across the region, but median base saturation in the upper 10 cm of the B horizon was less than 20% across the region and was only 2% in the southern area. Aluminum is likely to be interfering with root uptake of calcium in the mineral horizon in approximately half the sampled watersheds. Stream chemistry was highly variable over the Catskill region and, therefore, did not always reflect the calcium depletion of the B horizon that our sampling suggested was nearly ubiquitous throughout the region. Published 2013. This article is a U.S. Government work and is in the public domain in the USA.

Photosynthetic and Growth Response of Sugar Maple (Acer saccharum Marsh.) Mature Trees and Seedlings to Calcium, Magnesium, and Nitrogen Additions in the Catskill Mountains, NY, USA

“…The environmental quality of the Catskill region is important because it serves as the primary source of drinking water for the City of New York. Catskill soils are classified mainly as Inceptisols that often have low base saturation making them susceptible to pH decreases and base cation depletion from acidic deposition [ 30 – 32 ]. The study plots contained a mixture of sugar maple, American beech ( Fagus grandifolia Ehrh.)…”

The Biscuit Brook and Neversink Reservoir watersheds: Long‐term investigations of stream chemistry, soil chemistry and aquatic ecology in the Catskill Mountains, New York, USA, 1983–2020

“…During the 21st century, the scope and intensity of monitoring and investigations in the Biscuit Brook and Neversink Reservoir watersheds declined, although regular monitoring of stream discharge, stream chemistry, and precipitation chemistry continue. Periodic synoptic investigations of stream chemistry, soil chemistry and aquatic ecology across the Neversink Reservoir watershed have also continued (Baldigo et al, 2019;Burns et al, 2008;Siemion et al, 2014).…”

“…Lawrence et al (2016) provides a detailed description of repeated soil sampling methods. Soils were analysed for percent carbon and nitrogen, loss on ignition, pH, exchangeable Al and hydrogen ion (H + ), and exchangeable Ca 2+ , Mg 2+ , Na + , K + , following methods described in Johnson et al (2000), Siemion et al (2014) and Table 4. SOPs for all soil chemical analyses are available on the USGS New York Water Science Center Soil and Low Ionic Strength Laboratory project page: https://www.sciencebase.gov/catalog/item/55ca2fd6e4b08400b1fdb88f.…”

The Forestry Reclamation Approach: guide to successful reforestation of mined landsSite-specific critical acid load estimates for forest soils in the Osborn Creek watershed, Michigan

“…Critical load exceedance indicates an increased risk of damage to the ecosystem. Some consequences of increased soil acidity are leaching of essential soil nutrients (Schaberg et al 2010), and aluminum toxicity (Cronan and Grigal 1995), both of which reduce forest growth (Ouimet et al 2001) and acidify surface waters (McDonnell et al 2012, Siemion et al 2014). …”

“…Those forests can easily demonstrate and justify the costs of conducting such work because of continued high acid deposition (especially N), and the observed effects directly related to acid deposition in both terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems (Driscoll et al 2003, Siemion et al 2014, Sullivan 2012). In the western Lower Peninsula of Michigan, however, acid deposition has historically been moderate; total (S+N) dep was about 17.9 kg/ha/yr from 2000 to 2012 in the Osborn Creek watershed.…”